Message in a bottle redeems lost sons

THE steel-hulled yacht was surging across the Great Australian Bight under clear skies and a full moon with

a "good wind and a huge swell right up the bum", penned Michael Calvin in a letter to his twin sister, Sue.

It was October 26, 1988 and life was one great adventure for the 21-year-old from Taree and his mate John Blissett, crewmen aboard the 20-metre luxury schooner Patanela. They had been 10 days at sea, sailing out of Fremantle bound for the Whitsundays. Next port of call was Port Lincoln, where Mr Calvin would post his letter, before a series of stops on the way to Airlie Beach, where the pair had been promised use of the boat for a charter business.

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There was even time for Christmas back home before launching their future, he wrote: "Myself and John will then drive, fly or bus back to Taree for Chrissie, maybe two weeks then make our way back to start up a charter business onboard." And then, an intriguing postscript: "We have just made a message in a bottle for a free holiday onboard the Patanela."

But his sister never saw her brother again. He vanished - along with Mr Blissett and a Perth couple, Ken and Noreen Jones, who were also on board when the boat disappeared without trace off Sydney a few weeks after the letter was posted. What happened remains a mystery.

Now, one of the most critical questions - whether there was foul play on board - has been answered by the discovery on New Year's Eve of the message in the bottle tossed overboard by Mr Blissett on that beautiful, carefree night.

Sheryl Waideman, her husband, Gary, and her brother Doug had driven to the beach near Eucla on the West Australian-South Australian border for a

swim before indulging in their passion for beachcombing. Ms Waideman headed one way and the men the other.

The beach is so remote that it has no name and the only sound above the ocean is an occasional crayfish boat. There is no sign of human activity so Ms Waideman was taken aback when she found a Bacardi bottle half-buried upside down in the sand. Inside she could see a note, the writing clearly visible.

Rather than opening it on the beach, she took the bottle back to their campsite where the three judged it, because of its good condition, to be a couple of years old. It was only after returning home to the town of Esperance, nine hours away by car, that they carefully removed the note.

Written in pale blue-green ink, it read: "Hi there. Out here in the lonely Southern Ocean and thought we would give away a free holiday in the Whitsunday Islands in north Queensland, Australia. Our ship is travelling from Fremantle, Western Aust, to Queensland to work as a charter vessel." The note invited the finder to call one of a pair of phone numbers for John and Mick to claim the prize and gave the yacht's position just off Eucla. "See ya soon", it ends, signed John.

"When we read the date it blew us away," Ms Waideman recalled this week. "I had no idea about the Patanela. In fact we jokingly tried phoning one of the numbers just to see if it was still working. It was only after we searched on the internet that we realised what had happened, which was very upsetting considering they disappeared only a week or so later."

After several weeks she decided to track down Mr Blissett's parents. She phoned on January 24.

"I was sewing with the phone right next me," Marj Blissett recalled. "The woman at the other end said something like, 'This is going to sound very strange and you don't know me but' and then told me the story. I was flabbergasted."

She called her husband, Brian, who was out the back: "He was calm and collected, I think because he couldn't quite believe it. It was only a few days later after Sheryl emailed a photograph of the note that he accepted it was true. We recognised the handwriting immediately."

The importance of the discovery is not that it proves what happened, but what did not occur in the early hours of November 8 about 10 nautical miles off Botany Bay. Authorities believe the most likely scenario is that the boat was struck and sunk by a freighter but that has not stopped a series of rumours being circulated over the years, particularly after one of the boat's life buoys was hauled aboard by a fisherman off Terrigal seven months later.

Dozens of sightings have been reported, from Australia to South-East Asia and South America, and theories have included rumours that Mr Blissett and Mr Calvin may have been involved in hijacking the boat. An inquest in 1992 returned an open finding but the now-retired NSW deputy coroner, Derrick Hand, said he was satisfied that the yacht had sunk and all on board had died.

Marj Blissett says the discovery of the bottle and its message proves her son was innocent. "It supports our belief that the boys were there for no other reason than adventure and their intention was to start a charter operation," she said. "We never believed anything else."

Michael Calvin's mother, Dawn, was at South West Rocks when she got a call from Mrs Blissett about the discovery: "It was upsetting at first because it brings back memories but I've settled down now and really happy it's been found. How amazing."

Her son's letter to his sister only confirms its authenticity, she said: "I've endured a lot of calls over the years. It's been hurtful and now we know the truth."

Ms Waideman wants to take it a step further. Next month she intends travelling to Taree to return John Blissett's note to his mother. "It belongs to her. It's her son."

Mrs Blissett says she is moved by the offer: "This is a lovely thing to happen. Now we'll have something of John."